Weekend Pairing

“Layer Cake” + a Single Malt Scotch

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Published

April 10, 2020

Without many new films opening this weekend, I’d advocate rewatching old classics and under-appreciated films. Like 2005's Layer Cake. If you were disappointed by the delay of Daniel Craig's last Bond film (pushed back until November due to the global coronavirus pandemic), consider this the next best thing. It was essentially Craig's audition for the franchise, complete with violence, car chases and plenty of brutish charm mixed with sardonic humor.

Craig plays a cocaine distributor, known only as "XXXX," who's looking to get out of the business. But before he can enjoy early retirement, the big boss gives him one last job—one that digs him even deeper into the dark underworld of drugs and organized crime. It's a stylish film and the cast is amazing—there's Sienna Miller, Tom Hardy and even his future Bond co-star, Ben Whishaw. It's grittier than a Bond film, but all the swagger and action are accounted for.

Your Pairing:

There's plenty of drinking in this film, but there's more whiskey than anything else. At one particularly low point, XXXX crushes some recreational pharmaceuticals and washes them down with a swig of Macallan. Not a smart move—if only because it's a waste of a perfectly good Scotch, if you ask me. Pour yourself a proper glass of the highland single malt Scotch, aged for 12 years in Sherry oak casks, and enjoy it like a gentleman.